Warner Bros has released a new behind the scenes shot for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Director David Yates and crew watch Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore film a scene. Yesterday, Warner President and Chief Operating Officer Alan Horn offered a statement to the many upset fans explaining why the film had been moved back to Summer 2009:

Many of you have written to me to express your disappointment in our moving “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” to Summer 2009.

Please be assured that we share your love for Harry Potter and would certainly never do anything to hurt any of the films. Over the past 10 years, we have nurtured and protected each film, and the integrity of the books upon which they are based, to the best of our ability.

The decision to move “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” was not taken lightly, and was never intended to upset our Harry Potter fans. We know you have built this series into what it is, and we thank you for your ongoing enthusiasm and support.

If I may offer a silver lining: there would have been a two-year gap between “Half-Blood Prince” and the much-anticipated first part of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” which opens in November 2010.

So although we have to wait a little longer for “Half-Blood Prince,” the wait from that film until “Deathly Hallows” will be less than 18 months. I am sorry to have disappointed you now, but if you hold on a little longer, I believe it will be worth the wait.

USA Today has released two new photos from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The photo above gives us our first look at a young Tom Riddle, played by Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, who grows up to become Lord Voldermort. The cool thing about Hero’s casting is that Hero is actually the real-life nephew of Ralph Fiennes, who plays Voldermort in the film series. The photo below shows Dumbledore, played by Michael Gambon, who creates a firestorm to fend off a group of reanimated and haunted dead people called Inferi. Director David Yates compares the scene to Charlton Heston’s parting fo the Red Sea in the Ten Commandments. “It’s an almost a biblical image,” Yates says. Indeed. The first teaser trailer for the next Potter film is expected to hit the web sometime in the next 24 hours.

I’ve read all of the Harry Potter novels (although, I’ve yet to finish the last one) and have seen all the Harry Potter films, yet the sexual preference of one of the main characters is a shocking twist that I nor Hardcore Harry Potter fanatics ever expected.

JK Rowling revealed at a book reading in front of over 2,000 fans at Carnegie Hall in New York that the headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore, is actually gay. Who woulda thought? Rowling said that the character originally fell in love with the wizard Gellert Grindelwald, who, according to Rita Skeeter’s book The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore (read: not very reliable), is the second Most Dangerous Dark Wizard of All Time, under of course, Lord Voldemort.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows it was revealed that Grindelwald was an adolescent friend of Albus Dumbledore and that the two of them planned to establish a new world order, where wizards would rule over Muggles “for the greater good”. An argument culminated in a three-way battle between Albus, Aberforth Dumbledore, and Grindelwald in which Albus’ disabled sister Ariana was inadvertently killed by one of them. Grindelwald fled, fearing retribution, which ended their friendship. In 1945, Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald in what is described as the most intense wizarding battle ever to occur.

“Falling in love can blind us to an extent,” Rowling said of Dumbledore’s feelings. “He was horribly, terribly let down.” She referred to this love as Dumbledore’s “great tragedy.”

Rowling went on to reveal that she had recently read through Steve Kloves’ script for the upcoming movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and came across a scene in which Dumbledore was reminiscing about past loves. Rowling says she crossed out the passage and noted “Dumbledore is gay” in the margin.

The audience fell silent, and then after a moment, Carnegie Hall exploded into applause. Rowling said that if she had known that her admission would get that type of response, she would’ve revealed her thoughts on Dumbledore earlier.

Dumbledore is portrayed in the film adaptations by Richard Harris and Michael Gambon.

Academy Awards viewership went up 3%, but still didn’t crack the 40 million-viewer mark as it has three of the past six years. May-be they should hire a funny host next year. Make the show entertaining perhaps? Spread out the major awards? Just a couple thoughts.